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in Vedic philosophy,  flying vehicles operated by the gods.

604 track _Vimana_ off of _Plastic/Vimana_ 12" by Etnica aka Crop Circles (1996)

• cover depicts caduceus
• samples: 
• "This visitor somehow explained the way aliens have been genetically altering the developent of our DNA from our very beginnings, and that they have inspired our greater spiritual leaders."
• "... and that they in fact influenced the course in human history in a rather critical and startling ways."
• "Other dimensions that co-exist with our own and these beings has the technology to somehow slip in and out."
• "The disc actually landed by intention. And then, an exchange with the alien lifeform..."  (From _Roswell_, with Martin Sheen and Kyle MacLachlahan)

"In various kinds of Asian and South Asian texts, we find references to flying machines and aerial vehicles. Chinese and Indian stories tell of peoples or individual artisans who constructed devices for travelling through the air. The stories take many different forms, including quite fanciful romances. Others present a picture of inventors taking pains to understand the basic principles of flight, and crafting machines of wood to achieve this goal."

- Dr. Benjamin B. Olshin, "Mechanical Mythology: Private Descriptions of Flying Machines as Found in Early Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Other Texts"

• The word vimana is purportedly derived from vamana: "he who is able at three strides to take measure of the entire earth and heavens."
• neo psychedelia track _A Machine In India_ MP3 (192k) by The Flaming Lips off of _Zaireeka_ CDx4 (1997)
• neo psychedelia track _Aim The Vimana At The Dorian Sector_ MP3 by The Orange Alabaster Mushroom off of _Space and Time: A Compendium of the Orange Alabaster Mushroom_ CD on Earworm (2001)

"In the Vedic literature of India, there are many descriptions of flying machines that are generally called vimanas. These fall into two categories: (1) manmade craft that resemble airplanes and fly with the aid of birdlike wings, and (2) unstreamlined structures that fly in a mysterious manner and are generally not made by human beings. The machines in category (1) are described mainly in medieval, secular Sanskrit works dealing with architecture, automata, military siege engines, and other mechanical contrivances. Those in category (2) are described in ancient works such as the Rg Veda, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranas, and they have many features reminiscent of UFOs."

     - Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities
 
  

"The so-called 'Rama Empire' of Northern India and Pakistan developed at least fifteen thousand years ago on the Indian sub-continent and was a nation of many large, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts of Pakistan, northern, and western India. Rama...was ruled by 'enlightened Priest-Kings' who governed the cities.  "The seven greatest capital cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as 'The Seven Rishi Cities'. According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were called 'vimanas'. The ancient Indian epic describes a vimana as a double- deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer. It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a 'melodious sound'. There were at least four different types of vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders ('cigar shaped airships')."

     - D. Hatcher Childress, "Ancient Indian Aircraft Technology"  In The Anti-Gravity Handbook

• ethno-drum & bass track _Rama Communication_ MP3 (160k) by State Of Bengal off of _Visual Audio_ on Six Degrees

Among the more famous ancient texts that mention aerial cars (Vimanas) are the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Other lesser known texts include the Samarangana Sutra-dhara, the Yuktikalpataru of Bhoja (12th century A.D.) the Mayamatam (attributed to the architect Maya celebrated in the Mahabharata), the Rig Veda, the Yajurveda and the Ataharvaveda.

According to the Indian historian Ramachandra Dikshitar, other texts which mention aerial vehicles and travels are the Satapathya Brahmanas; the Rig Veda Samhita; the Harivamsa; the Makandeya Purana; the Visnu Purana; the Vikramaurvasiya; the Uttararamacarita; the Harsacarita; the Tamil text Jivakocintamani; and the Samaranganasutradhara.

In the Manusa, the most elaborate details for building aerial machines are set down.  The Samarangana Sutradhara says that they were made of light material, with a strong, well-shaped body. Iron, copper, mercury and lead were used in their construction. They could fly to great distances and were propelled through air by motors. The Samarangana Sutradhara text devotes 230 stanzas to the building of these machines, and their uses in peace and war:

Strong and durable must the body be made, like a great flying bird, of light material. Inside it one must place the Mercury-engine with its iron heating apparatus beneath. By means of the power latent in the mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in the sky in a most marvelous manner. Similarly by using the prescribed processes one can build a vimana as large as the temple of the God-in-motion. Four strong mercury containers must be built into the interior structure. When these have been heated by controlled fire from iron containers, the vimana develops thunder-power through the mercury. And at once it becomes a pearl in the sky. Moreover, if this iron engine with properly welded joints be filled with mercury, and the fire be conducted to the upper part it develops power with the roar of a lion.  The Ramayana describes a vimana as a double-deck, circular (cylindrical) aircraft with portholes and a dome. It flew with the speed of the wind and gave forth a melodious sound (a humming noise?).  Ancient Indian texts on Vimanas are so numerous it would take several books to relate what they have to say. The ancient Indians themselves wrote entire flight manuals on the control of various types of Vimanas, of which there were basically four: the Shakuna Vimana, the Sundara Vimana, the Rukma Vimana and the Tripura Vimana.  The Vaimanika Sastra is perhaps the most important ancient text on Vimanas known to exist. It was first reported to have been found in 1918 in the Baroda Royal SanskritLibrary. Baroda is located north of Bombay and south of Ahmedabad in Gujerat. No earlier copies have been reported, however, Swami Dayananda Saraswati in his comprehensive treatise on the Rig Veda dated 1875 references the Vaimanaik Sastra in his commentary, as well as other manuscripts on Vimanas.  The Vaimanika Sastra refers to 97 past works and authorities, of which at least 20 works deal with the mechanism of aerial Flying Machines, but none of these works are now traceable. Says Sanskrit literature professor Dileep Kumar Kanjilal, Ph.D. of the West Bengal Senior Educational Service, Since the transcripts of the work date from early 20th century the authenticity of the Vail Sastra may be pertinently questioned. On careful analysis it has been found that the work retained some antique features pertaining to an old Sastra. Like the Sutras of Panini the rules have been laid down in an aphoristic style with the explanation couched in Vrittis and Karikas. The Sutra style is to be found in the earliest works on grammar, Smrti and Philosophy, while the use of Karikas is as old as Batsyayana, Kautilya and others of the early Christian era. Bharadwaja as the author of a Srauta Satra and Smrti work is well-known and a sage Bharadwaja as the seer of the 6th Mandala of the Rig Veda is also well-known. Panini also referred to him in VII. II.63. Kautilya had also shown that Bharadwaja was an ancient author on politics. The Mbh. (Mahabharata, Santiparva Ch. 58.3) refers to Bharadwaja as an author on politics. Authors on politics have very often been found to have written on the technical sciences also. The genuineness, therefore, of any treatise on technical sciences composed by Bharadwaja cannot be ignored.  Says the Vaimanika Sastra about itself: In this book are described in 8 pregnant and captivating chapters, the arts of manufacturing various types of Aeroplanes of smooth and comfortable travel in the sky, as a unifying force for the Universe, contributive to the well-being of mankind.

That which can go by its own force, like a bird, on earth, or water, or air, is called Vimana.'
That which can travel in the sky, from place to place, land to land, or globe to globe, is called Vimana by scientists in Aeronautics. The ancient manuscript claims to give:

  The secret of constructing aeroplanes,
  which will not break, which cannot be
  cut, will not catch fire, and cannot be
  destroyed.
  The secret of making planes motionless.
  The secret of making planes invisible.
  The secret of hearing conversations and
  other sounds in enemy planes.
  The secret of receiving photographs of
  the interior of enemy planes.
  The secret of ascertaining the direction
  of enemy planes approach.
  The secret of making persons in enemy
  planes lose consciousness.
  The secret of destroying enemy planes.

- from _Could the Ancients Fly?_ by David Childress

Many of properties of the vimanas bring to mind the ephemeral nature of UFO's and their seeming ability to defy the conventional laws of physics. Carl Jung has remarked on the dreamlike quality of UFO's, and somewhere, amidst the observation of bright lights and lost time, the delineation between objective and subjective consciousness appears to break down.
 
  

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